Standard reports on nine people that could be charged with something, i.e., they were "temporarily detained" (vorläufig festgenommen, provisionally detained). According to this report, only one of the nine persons was arrested, and that for a an act of attempted vandalism, i.e., allegedly trying but failing to break a window at a jewelry store. (See also: Pyrotechnik gegen Polizei in Favoriten ORF 01.01.2021)
Meanwhile, in Linz, the capital of Austria's third-most-populous state Upper Austria, on the following day, a crowd of around 1,000 gathered in the town square in a closely packed crowd to protest against anti-COVID-19 regulations. (Corona-Demo füllte am Freitag den Hauptplatz Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 02.01.2021.
One of these incidents provoked Austria's Interior Minister Karl Nehammer of the Christian-Democratic People's Party (ÖVP) to start the new year by posting this on New Year's Day on Facebook:
The text of the post says, "Those who cannot identify with our social values and try to disrupt them must expect all legal consequences. The crimes committed on New Year's Eve at Reumannplatz are a sign of a deep anti-democratic and un-solidarish attitude that has does not belong in our country." (my emphasis)
Did I mention they made one arrest? For attempted vandalism?
The even more blatant rightwingers - Nehammer is a pretty unpleasant piece of work himself - quickly picked up the hint about not belonging in the country. Norbert Hofer, currently head of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) that was a national coalition partner for the ÖVP 2017-2019, immediately demanded that the firecracker criminals be expelled from the country. (FPÖ-Chef Hofer will Böller-Chaoten abschieben Heute 01.01.2021)
Oh, and he wants their families expelled as well. He posted this on his Facebook page on New Year's Day, the caption on the photo reading, "The foreigners involved in the riots in Vienna-Favoriten must be deported along with their families."
Happy New Year, all you foreigners living in Austria!
Oh, did I mention they made one arrest? For attempted vandalism?
Standard is an excellent newspaper. But close reading is always a good idea. The story says what I summarized in the first two paragraphs here. But the headline is, "Big police action in Vienna: Mob shot at police with fireworks." And the first paragraph of the story reads:
In der sonst recht ruhigen Silvesternacht ging es in Wien-Favoriten wild zu: Nachdem es zu etlichen Sachbeschädigungen durch pyrotechnische Gegenstände in der Gegend um den Reumannplatz gekommen war, rückte die Polizei zu einem Großeinsatz aus. Der Mob beschoss Beamte mit Raketen bzw. Böllern, es kam zu zahlreichen vorübergehenden Festnahmen. Zahlreiche "Allahu Akbar"-Rufe sollen zu hören gewesen sein.The following paragraph makes it sound even more dramatic:
[In the otherwise rather quiet New Year's Eve, Vienna’s Favoriten neighborhood things were wild: After numerous instances of damage to property caused from pyrotechnic articles [aka, fireworks] in the area around Reumannplatz, the police moved out in a large-scale operation. The mob fired rockets or firecrackers at officials, and there were numerous temporary arrests. Numerous "Allahu Akbar" [“God is great” in Arabic] calls are said to have been heard.]
Wie die APA erfuhr, wurden auch brennende Gegenstände in Richtung der Polizisten geschleudert. Die pyrotechnischen Gegenstände, die auch gegen die Beamten eingesetzt wurden, sollen die doppelte Sprengkraft einer scharfen Handgranate gehabt haben. Auch ein eintreffender Funkwagen wurde mit Pyrotechnik unter Beschuss genommen, ein Christbaum wurde mit brennbarer Flüssigkeit übergossen.Standard attributes the worse-than-a-hand-grenade information to the Austrian Press Agency (APA), which is also a legitimate news wire service. But here "as the APA learned" seems to actually mean "somebody from the police told us this".
[As the APA learned, burning objects were also thrown in the direction of the policemen. The pyrotechnic articles, which were also used against the officers, are said to have had twice the explosive power of a sharp hand grenade. An incoming radio car was also bombarded with pyrotechnics, and a flammable liquid was poured on a Christmas tree.]
Because, seriously? An Islamic "mob" attacked cops with an explosives device twice as powerful as a hand grenade? And they made one arrest ... for attempted vandalism? To use one of Joe Biden's signature phrases, "Come on, man!" As in, "Who do you expect to believe that?" And if you read the APA claim closely, it appears to be some kind of estimate of the collective explosive power of the, uh, firecrackers that were shot off somewhere in the vicinity of the police.
I suppose here I should say the obvious, which is that tossing firecrackers at cop cars is not really a smart thing to do. Even in Vienna, where the cops are not known to be as trigger-happy as in a typical American city. But, good grief! Shooting off unauthorized fireworks on New Year's Eve isn't exactly something the Vienna police have never seen before, even if the risks of crowds gathering for such a thing even outdoors is somewhat higher than in other years.
But the Vienna-Favoriten incident resulted in one arrest? For attempted vandalism.
The COVID superspreader event in downtown Linz, however, did not promote any such immediate outcry. But we know from ten months of experience that such gatherings will spread the virus and that some people will get sick as a result, and some may well die. In Upper Austria, intensive care beds are already currently in short supply.
But the COVID spreaders in Linz were presumably mostly good, white Austrians without what is known as a "migratory background," which formally means people who themselves of their parents came from another country besides Austria. And there were apparently no arrests for attempted vandalism.
So the authoritarian politicians in Austria aren't calling for those people who are irresponsibly and knowingly spreading a deadly virus to be expelled along with their whole families.
Xenophobia in real time. It ain't pretty.
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